RSS
Home
General manager has seen the highs and lows of the San Jose Giants
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Mark Wilson has been there and seen it all for the San Jose Giants.
He was there in the lean years, when the team did not have a major league affiliation, and had to field a ragged bunch of cast-offs and former major league players. That was 1986 and the then-San Jose Bees were nicknamed the “Bad News” Bees and finished in ninth place in the California League.
“When I first started in 1984, we were lucky to get 200-300 fans a game,” recalls Wilson, who began with the Bees as an intern. Now, the Giants average 3,000 fans a game, and Wilson has been at the helm as general manager for each of the team’s five league championships (2009, 2007, 2005, 2001 and 1998) since the club became San Francisco’s High-A affiliate.
Wilson recently celebrated his 25th anniversary with the San Jose Giants, and was honored with his second California League Executive of the Year award.
“It’s a heck of an award primarily because it’s really a reflection of our entire staff and the year we had. What makes this so even more significant is it’s not so much based on our won-loss record as the operation of our franchise. I’m pretty proud of that.”
Wilson says there were only four full-time employees when he came to San Jose after obtaining a Bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University and a Masters from St. Thomas University with an emphasis in Sports Management. Today, the staff is four times as large.
“We all wear a lot of hats now but we wore many more hats back then.”
Indeed. It’s been a constant challenge for the Giants to grow their business while playing at San Jose Municipal Stadium, a 67-year-old ballpark that’s second oldest in the league. Yet, team ownership and the city of San Jose continue to pump money into the old field to try to improve the experience for fans and players alike.
“I like to say it’s as if we’re putting on a different wedding every night,” says Wilson. “Every night is a different group that wants to have a great time and our sales team does an excellent job of making the experience a real good one.”
Wilson’s fondest Giants memories include winning the first California League title as a San Francisco farm team in front of their home crowd (2005), and watching more and more Giants advance to the major leagues. Since 1988, 136 San Jose Giants have made it to the big leagues.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
